Zeynep Temel is an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering, jointly appointed in the Biomedical Engineering and Robotics Institute. She leads the Zoom Lab, focusing on bio-inspired compliant mechanisms for robotic systems. Current research emphasizes adaptable robots for complex environments through mechanical intelligence and embedded control . Key application areas include surgical robotics , search-and-rescue , and micromanipulation . Her work spans bio-inspired design, compliant robotics, and human-centered applications. Recent publications highlight advancements in: Swarm robotics for collaborative exploration Soft actuators using bioplastics and gelatin Dexterous manipulation via delta robot frameworks The Zoom Lab trains students in robotic fabrication and biological modeling, with members transitioning to roles in academia and industry.
Oya Celiktutan is a Reader (Associate Professor) at King’s College London in the Department of Engineering, leading the Social AI & Robotics (SAIR) Lab within the Centre for Robotics Research. She holds a BSc in Electronics Engineering from Uludag University, and an MSc and PhD in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Bogazici University, Turkey. Her doctoral work included a visiting research period at the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Lyon, France. She has held postdoctoral positions at Queen Mary University London, the University of Cambridge, and Imperial College London before joining King’s College in 2018. Her research focuses on multimodal machine learning for autonomous agents, addressing challenges in human-robot interaction, social awareness, and navigation. Key areas include human behavior analysis, generative models, and continual learning. Her work is supported by EPSRC, The Royal Society, EU Horizon, and industry partners like Toyota and NVIDIA. Notable awards include the EPSRC New Investigator Award (2021) and a Best Paper Award at IEEE Ro-Man 2022. Dr. Celiktutan’s lab explores socially assistive robotics, extended reality systems, and ethical AI. Recent projects include the LISI initiative to enable robots to learn social interactions from human-human data and the CL-HRI project advancing continual learning in human-centric robotics. Her research has led to datasets like MHHRI and RICA, and collaborations with companies like SoftBank Robotics. She teaches modules on Sensing and Perception, and Sensors and Actuators, emphasizing practical applications in robotics and mechatronics. Current research interests span socially-aware navigation, algorithmic fairness, and multimodal data fusion for robotics in healthcare and urban environments.
Leysia Palen is a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Information Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. She was the founding chair of the Department of Information Science, which launched in 2015, and maintains appointments in both the Department of Information Science and Computer Science. Palen is also a faculty fellow with the Institute of Cognitive Science and ATLAS Institute. She received her PhD from the University of California, Irvine in Information and Computer Science in 1998 and has been a faculty member at CU Boulder ever since. Her educational background includes: BS in Cognitive Science from University of California, San Diego MS and PhD in Information and Computer Science from University of California, Irvine Palen is a leader in crisis informatics, an area she forged with her graduate students and colleagues. Her research integrates human-computer interaction (HCI), computer-supported cooperative work, and social computing to address socio-technical issues of societal importance. She conducts empirical research in the interpretivist tradition while adapting quantitative techniques for analyzing large-scale online interactions during crisis events. Her work has earned her the ACM Computer Human Interaction Social Impact Award in 2015, and she was elected to the ACM CHI Academy in 2016. Palen's research examines how people use technology to communicate during emergencies and disasters. Her work spans hurricane response, earthquake recovery, terrorist attacks, and pandemic situations, analyzing social media usage, risk communication patterns, and emergent information infrastructures. She directs Project EPIC (Empowering the Public with Information during Crisis) and co-directs the Center for Software & Society at CU Boulder. Her publication record demonstrates consistent contributions to understanding human-technology interaction in critical situations, with over 90 articles spanning two decades. Palen has secured approximately $5 million in research funding as Principal Investigator from the National Science Foundation, including an NSF CAREER award in 2006. She serves as an Associate Editor for both the Human Computer Interaction Journal (Taylor and Francis) and the Computer-Supported Cooperative Work Journal (Springer), reflecting her leadership in these academic communities. Palen has held positions at Xerox PARC, Boeing Commercial, USWEST Advanced Technologies, and Microsoft Commercial, and has been a faculty member at the University of Aarhus in Denmark and University of Agder in Norway.
Dr. Zhongliang Jiang is a senior research scientist and leader of the Robotics and Ultrasound team (RobUSt) at the Chair of Computer Aided Medical Procedures (CAMP) at Technische Universität München. He holds a Ph.D. in computer sciences (summa cum laude) and has authored/co-authored over 40 top-tier publications in robotics and medical imaging. His research focuses on robotic ultrasound systems, medical image processing, and robotic learning. Education: Ph.D. in Computer Sciences, TUM (2022, summa cum laude) M.Eng. in Harbin Institute of Technology (2017) Research Assistant at SIAT (2017-2018) Research Interests: Medical Robotics: autonomous robotic ultrasound systems Image Processing: RGB-D/ultrasound segmentation, registration Robotic Learning: reinforcement/imitation learning Robotic Control: MPC, shared control, human-robot interaction Professional Contributions: Associate Editor for ICRA 2024/2025 Guest Editor for IEEE TRO special issue on Robot-Assisted Medical Imaging Main organizer of RAMI workshops at ICRA (2023-2025) Awards: MICCAI 2023 Best Paper Runner-up Gold Medal for Master's Thesis (2017) Lab & Teaching: Leading the RobUSt team developing advanced robotic ultrasound solutions Teaching courses like Computer Aided Medical Procedures and Medical Augmented Reality Supervised over 15 Master/PhD projects in robotic ultrasound and medical imaging
Dr. Saad Khan is a Senior Lecturer in Cyber Security at the Department of Computer Science, School of Computing and Engineering, University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom. He is an active researcher and educator, supervising multiple PhD students and contributing to government-funded cybersecurity projects with Innovate UK, DCMS, and DASA. He is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and serves on program committees for major conferences. His research focuses on intelligent systems for cyber security and digital forensics. Key areas include Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), access control, authentication, vulnerability assessment, anomaly detection, and image forensics. He aims to develop automated software tools that enhance digital infrastructure resilience against modern cyber threats. The recent publications reflect a strong trend in applying machine learning and AI to cybersecurity challenges, particularly in IoT security, zero-day attack detection, and human-centric security awareness. His work bridges technical innovation with practical implementation in real-world environments. Scientific Awards: Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Dr. Khan actively supervises PhD students and contributes to research grants through collaborations with UK government agencies. He has led work in three major funded projects and regularly reviews for top-tier journals and conferences. He is a member of the Centre for Cybersecurity at the University of Huddersfield, where he collaborates on interdisciplinary research initiatives focused on secure digital transformation and intelligent defense systems.
Kartik Hosanagar is the John C. Hower Professor of Technology and Digital Business and a Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He is also the Co-Director of the Wharton Human-AI Initiative. His work spans the Department of Operations, Information and Decisions, focusing on the intersection of technology, business, and society. Education: PhD in Management Science and Information Systems, Carnegie Mellon University MPhil in Management Science, Carnegie Mellon University Masters in Information Systems, Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences (BITS, Pilani), India Bachelors in Electronics Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences (BITS, Pilani), India Research Interests: Kartik’s research focuses on the digital economy, particularly the impact of AI, algorithms, and analytics on consumers, businesses, and society. His work explores internet marketing, e-commerce, digital media, information diffusion, platform economics, and the ethical implications of AI. He investigates how technology transforms business models and consumer behavior in online environments. Publication Trends: His recent research combines machine learning, causal inference, and behavioral modeling to study digital platforms, user behavior, and AI applications in marketing and operations. The articles reflect a strong focus on empirical analysis of social media, search engines, and platform design, with applications in advertising, content sharing, and product adoption. Scientific Awards: Best Information Systems paper published in Management Science, 2013-2016 Finalist for Best Information Systems paper in Management Science (2012-2015) Recognized as one of the world’s top 40 business professors under 40 Eleven-time recipient of teaching excellence awards at Wharton MBA Excellence in Teaching Award, 2007 “Goes above and beyond the call of duty” award (multiple years) Advising and Grants: While no formal PhD students are listed, Kartik has supervised independent studies and mentored numerous students through research projects. His entrepreneurial ventures, such as Yodle and Jumpcut Media, reflect real-world applications of his research. He has also secured significant industry engagement through consulting and executive education with major firms like Google, American Express, and Citi. His work is supported by academic recognition, editorial roles, and media outreach. Labs and Teams: Kartik co-directs the Wharton Human-AI Initiative, a research hub exploring the integration of human and artificial intelligence in business. He also leads research groups focused on digital platforms and AI ethics, collaborating with scholars across disciplines to advance understanding of algorithmic decision-making and its societal impact.
Sarah Pink is a leading Professor at Monash University , holding a joint appointment across the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture and the Faculty of Information Technology . She serves as Director of the FUTURES Hub and Emerging Technologies Research Lab , focusing on human futures in digital and net zero transitions. PhD in Social Anthropology, University of Kent Honorary Doctorates from Malmö and Halmstad Universities Fellow, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Her research spans design anthropology, emerging technologies, automated decision making, and future mobilities . Recent work examines: AI ethics in clean energy Smart homes for seniors Automated mobility futures Selected 2025 article trends show focus on technological ethics, urban data systems, and human-machine interaction across 6 subfields including automated decision making and sensory design. Major awards: CIOB Award for Best International Paper (2016) Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Gold (2021) Good Design Awards (2023) As research director for Monash Grid Innovation Hub and Human-Centred Computing , she leads projects funded by Australian Research Council, EU, and national research councils across five countries. Her lab engages 20 active projects and 20+ industry partners globally.
Jesse Hoey is a Professor in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo and leader of the Computational Health Informatics Lab (CHIL). He serves as a Faculty Affiliate at the Vector Institute and is Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing. His research spans affective computing, health informatics, and socially assistive robotics, with a particular focus on developing technologies for elderly care and cognitive assistive applications. Hoey's research interests center around affective intelligence, Bayesian affect control theory (BayesACT), and decision-theoretic planning in uncertain domains. His work integrates social psychology with artificial intelligence to create emotionally aware systems that can interact naturally with humans, particularly those with cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer's disease. He has developed models for social interaction, emotion recognition, and uncertainty management in human-robot collaboration. His recent publications demonstrate a strong trend toward medical applications of AI, particularly in ultrasound analysis and healthcare technology. Many of his papers focus on self-supervised learning techniques for medical imaging and the application of affective computing principles to assistive technologies for dementia care. His work bridges theoretical AI with practical healthcare applications, showing increasing emphasis on real-world implementation. Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing Hoey has supervised numerous PhD and Master's students through the Computational Health Informatics Lab, with research spanning socially assistive robotics, affective computing, and health informatics. His lab has received funding for projects related to AI for dementia care, smart home technologies, and emotion-aware systems. The CHIL lab collaborates with healthcare institutions including the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. The Computational Health Informatics Lab (CHIL) focuses on developing intelligent systems that understand and respond to human emotions and social contexts. Current projects include emotionally aligned social robots for dementia care, self-supervised learning for medical ultrasound, and models of social organization as uncertainty management. The lab combines theoretical work in Bayesian modeling with practical applications in healthcare technology.
Professor Irem Dikmen is a leading academic in Construction Engineering and Management at the University of Reading, where she serves as School Director of Internationalisation in the Chancellor's Building. Her research integrates engineering, management, and information sciences to advance construction project risk management, particularly focusing on climate resilience, digital technologies, and social value in infrastructure systems. PhD, MSc, and BSc in Civil Engineering from Middle East Technical University Her work leverages systems thinking, artificial intelligence, and digital tools to develop decision-support frameworks for megaprojects and climate adaptation. Recent publications highlight innovations in NLP contract analysis, energy performance ontologies, and risk visualization techniques. She supervises students on topics spanning IoT lifecycle management, ESG risks, and NLP defect detection. Key collaborations include the Climate and Finance Research Cluster and Walker Institute , with contributions to digital construction technologies and sustainability risk assessment. Teaching modules include Construction Risk Management, Economics, and Business Organisation.
Aylin Caliskan is an Assistant Professor at The Information School at the University of Washington, with a courtesy appointment at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. She co-directs the Tech Policy Lab and is a faculty affiliate at the UW NLP RAISE and VSD Lab. Her research focuses on AI ethics, bias detection, and human-centered AI, with a particular emphasis on how biases from human society propagate into machine learning models. University of Washington – Assistant Professor Tech Policy Lab – Co-Director UW NLP RAISE – Faculty Affiliate VSD Lab – Faculty Affiliate Brookings Institution – Nonresident Fellow in Governance Her research explores the mechanisms by which human society’s biases are encoded into AI systems, particularly in language and vision-language models. She develops evaluation techniques, transparency methods, and bias mitigation strategies to address these issues. Her work has been published in top-tier venues such as Science, PNAS, ACL, EMNLP, AAAI, and ACM FAccT. She has also advised and collaborated with numerous students and researchers, including Kyra Wilson, Mattea Sim, Gandalf Nicolas, and Kshitish Ghate. Her recent and accepted publications focus on generative AI’s societal impacts, including bias amplification in AI models, gender and race bias in resume screening, and the propagation of stereotypes through multimodal systems. These studies often analyze how biases encoded in AI can influence human decision-making and societal norms. Scientific Awards: NSF CAREER Award (2024) 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics (2023) IJCAI Early Career Spotlight (2023) She teaches courses on Generative AI and has delivered talks at institutions such as Stanford, NYU, and Howard University. Her work also intersects with law and policy, as seen in her Brookings Institution publications and service.
Pengtao Xie is an Associate Professor (tenured) in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC San Diego, with cross-appointments in the Division of Biomedical Informatics and affiliations across multiple schools and institutes including the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, School of Biological Sciences, and Skaggs School of Pharmacy. His research bridges human-inspired machine learning and healthcare applications. Education: PhD in Machine Learning, Carnegie Mellon University (2018) MS from Tsinghua University BS from Sichuan University Research Interests: His work focuses on machine learning inspired by human learning strategies , including learning by testing, interleaving, self-explanation, and teaching. These techniques are applied to large language models , foundation models , healthcare , and biomedicine . Recent efforts emphasize generative AI for medical image segmentation and protein function prediction. Scientific Awards: NIH MIRA Award (2025) NSF Career Award (2024) Best Graduate Teacher Award, ECE UCSD (2023) ICLR Notable-Top-5% Paper (2023) Global Top-100 Chinese Young Scholars in AI (2022) Tencent Faculty Award (2021) AMIA Doctoral Dissertation Award Finalist (2020) Siebel Scholarship (2014) Teaching & Mentorship: He has developed and taught courses such as Deep Generative Models , Probabilistic Graphical Models , and Linear Algebra and Applications . He actively mentors PhD, master's, and undergraduate students, with alumni now at CMU, Stanford, Mila, and industry roles. Labs & Teams: He leads a research group within the Center for Machine-Intelligence, Computing and Security and collaborates with the Institute for Genomic Medicine and Institute of Engineering in Medicine at UC San Diego.
Polemis Dionysios serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Maritime Studies at the University of Piraeus, Greece, within the School of Shipping and Industry. His academic profile demonstrates a strong commitment to maritime education and research in the Greek academic context, contributing to one of the Mediterranean's leading institutions for maritime studies. Professor Polemis specializes in International Economics and Maritime International Trade, with research focusing on the intersection of global trade patterns and maritime transportation systems. His scholarly work examines how geopolitical shifts, economic policy uncertainty, and market dynamics impact shipping operations, particularly in the LNG sector. His research interests span shipping economics, maritime transport economics, port management, and the geopolitical dimensions of international maritime trade routes. His publications reveal a consistent focus on analyzing market patterns, regulatory compliance, and sustainability challenges within the maritime sector. His extensive publication record, spanning from 2001 to anticipated 2025 publications, demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the maritime sector from operational, economic, and policy perspectives. Recent work shows increasing attention to emerging technologies in shipping and the evolving geopolitical landscape affecting global trade routes, particularly regarding LNG transportation and strategic maritime chokepoints like the Suez Canal. As an academic in the Department of Maritime Studies at the University of Piraeus, Professor Polemis contributes to the educational mission of an institution with a strong tradition in maritime education, situated in Piraeus—one of the Mediterranean's most important port cities. His work bridges theoretical economic concepts with practical applications in the shipping industry, providing valuable insights for both academic and industry stakeholders.
Bryan Pardo is a Professor of Computer Science at Northwestern University and head of the Interactive Audio Lab. He co-directs the Northwestern Center for Human Computer Interaction + Design and chairs the Computer Science Diversity Committee. He teaches courses in Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Generative Modeling, and Digital Music Instrument Design. PhD in Computer Science and Engineering, University of Michigan MMus in Jazz and Improvisation, University of Michigan MS in Computer Science, Ohio State University BMus in Jazz Composition, Ohio State University His research focuses on machine understanding and manipulation of sound, particularly in music and speech domains. Key areas include Machine Learning (e.g., automated gradient clipping), Signal Processing (e.g., Multi-scale Common-fate Transform), and Human Computer Interaction. Applications involve inclusive audio interfaces, audio search engines, source separation, natural language-controlled audio effects, privacy-preserving adversarial attacks on voice recognition, and music co-creation tools. Recent publications highlight advancements in neural watermarking (MaskMark), masked acoustic modeling (VampNet), and real-time adversarial privacy systems for speech. His lab's work has been applied in Adobe's AI-powered audio editor and Lexie B2 hearing aids. Scientific Awards: $1.8 million NSF Future of Work award $440K NSF grant for accessible music programming $200K Toyota grant $100K Sony grant TorchCrepe pitch tracker: 20 million+ downloads Bryan Pardo advises PhD student Max Morrison and collaborates with researchers like Patrick O'Reilly, Zeyu Jin, and Prem Seetharaman. His lab develops technologies for blind and visually impaired audio creators, including HaptEQ and Eyes-free tools.
Luca Iocchi is a Full Professor at Sapienza University of Rome, where he teaches in the Master in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics program. He is affiliated with the Department of Computer, Control, and Management Engineering and the Faculty of Engineering of Information, Computer Science and Statistics. Iocchi serves as an Associate Editor for Artificial Intelligence Journal and has been the scientific coordinator of Spoke of PNRR project FAIR (Future AI Research). His educational background includes: Master in Engineering in Computer Science (Laurea in Ingegneria Informatica) cum Laude, Sapienza Università di Roma, 1995 PhD in Engineering in Computer Science (Dottorato in Ingegneria Informatica), Sapienza Università di Roma, 1999 Professor Iocchi's research focuses on cognitive robotics, task planning, multi-robot coordination, robot perception, robot learning, human-robot interaction, and social robotics. His work has significant applications in security, surveillance, and environmental monitoring. He has published over 200 referred papers with an h-index of 46 (Google Scholar). His research bridges theoretical AI with practical robotic systems operating in real-world environments, with a particular emphasis on developing intelligent systems that can interact effectively with humans. His recent publications show a strong trend toward multi-agent reinforcement learning, trust modeling in human-AI teams, UAV coordination, and planning systems. There's a clear focus on making robotic systems more reliable, efficient, and capable of operating in complex real-world scenarios like healthcare facilities and smart cities. His work increasingly integrates formal planning approaches with machine learning techniques. Professor Iocchi has received numerous scientific awards: 1999 Top Paper Award WebNet'99 2006 Best Paper Award RoboCup 2006 2008 Best Robotics Demo Award AAMAS 2008 2014 Best Paper Award For Engineering Contribution RoboCup 2014 2017 RoboCup@Home SSPL 2017 - 3rd place 2018 Canada-Italy Innovation Award 2019 Best Paper Award For Engineering Contribution RoboCup 2019 As an academic advisor, Iocchi has directed the PhD Program in Engineering in Computer Science from 2020 to 2023. He has been Principal Investigator for numerous research projects including SciRoc (European Robotics League), AI4EU (European AI project), BUBBLES, AIPlan4EU, ROSITA, Trust Your Agents, and FAIR. His research has been supported by EU H2020 programs, national grants, and industry collaborations, demonstrating strong connections between academia and practical applications. Professor Iocchi is actively involved with the Cognitive Cooperating Robots Lab (LabRoCoCo) and is a key member of the RoboCup Federation, having served as Vice-President from 2019 to 2024. He has played a significant role in benchmarking domestic service robots through RoboCup@Home and the European Robotics League Service Robots (ERL-SR), which he helped establish. His leadership in organizing international scientific robot competitions has been instrumental in advancing the field of service robotics.
Jiro Katto is a Professor at Waseda University's School of Fundamental Science and Engineering, where he has been conducting research and teaching since 1999. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo and has established himself as a leading researcher in multimedia signal processing and computer networks. His academic journey includes positions as Associate Professor (1999-2004), Professor (2004-present), and Director at NEDO (2004-2008), along with research experience at NEC C&C Laboratories (1992-1999) and a Visiting Scholar position at Princeton University (1996-1997). Professor Katto's research interests focus on Multimedia Signal Processing and Computer Networks, with particular expertise in video compression, 5G network performance, and learned image compression techniques. His work bridges theoretical advancements with practical implementations, as evidenced by his extensive publications in top-tier conferences and journals. His research group has made significant contributions to point cloud compression, latency compensation in remote systems, and hardware-accelerated video encoding for UHD streaming. His publication record is impressive, with 276 papers cited 3,323 times in Scopus and 6,169 times in Google Scholar, reflecting his substantial impact in the field. His recent work shows a strong trend toward applying deep learning techniques to traditional signal processing problems, particularly in the areas of image and video compression, where his team has developed novel approaches to improve compression efficiency while reducing computational complexity. Electric Telecommunications Promotion Foundation Telecommunications System Technology Award (2023) Takayanagi Kenjiro Foundation Takayanagi Kenjiro Achievement Award (2020) Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers Fellow (2020) Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers Fellow (2015) IEICE Communications Society Activity Contribution Award (2006) IEICE Academic Encouragement Award (1995) SPIE VCIP 1991, Best Student Paper Award (1991) Professor Katto has served on numerous prestigious committees including IEEE ComSoC Tech News Editorial Board, IEEE Technical Program Committees for major conferences (Globecom, ICC, ICIP), and editorial boards for several academic journals. His leadership in the academic community extends to chairing conferences like IWAIT 2011 and serving as Editor-in-Chief for journals in his field. His research has practical applications in commercial 5G networks, video streaming services, and remote monitoring systems, demonstrating the real-world impact of his work.
